Hyundai Exec Says Luxury Brands Focus Way Too Much On Tech

The head of Hyundai's N performance division, Albert Biermann said luxury automakers are too focused pm technology that doesn’t give value to customers.

“It’s all marketing, first of all. “How many people really buy it later on? Much of this exists for media, to give a hype, to show the technology level. But how many people really buy it later on?" said Biermann to Australian outlet Drive.

“If the tech will fail, you’re just adding the burden to the buyer, right?”

We can assume some of the tech Biermann is referring to are things like gesture controls for the infotainment system or perfume diffusers. Biermann also brought up the example of a camera that looks at the road and makes adjustments to the suspension, calling it stupid.

“In our G90 you will not find any air suspension, or active roll-bars, or active whatever. A camera sensing the road, and this stuff. It’s stupid. We have a solid Hyundai steel platform, tonnes of high-strength steel – okay, it’s a little bit heavier than the other cars – and we have adjustable shock absorbers, and that’s it. We still outpace the S-Class in the double lane-change in the Consumer Reports. We almost beat the BMW, without all the fancy stuff,” said Biermann.

Biermann explained that Genesis will be focusing on simple technologies to make them reliable. He said Hyundai's chairman, Chung Mong-koo said he wants all Hyundai and Genesis models to be “like new” after a decade on the road.

On one hand, Biermann has a point. Luxury cars are notorious for being expensive to keep on the road, partly due to all the technology equipment fitted to them. On the other hand, those technologies are a big selling point on these vehicles. Buyers use these to justify the price and they are a cool party trick to show to friends and family.

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" Luxury cars are notorious for being expensive to keep on the road, partly due to all the technology equipment fitted to them. On the other hand, those technologies are a big selling point on these vehicles. Buyers use these to justify the price and they are a cool party trick to show to friends and family."

This is so true of Luxury and especially of all the new Nanny devices that have been added over the last 10-15 years. I question the real need as driving is a privilege earned and if you cannot focus on the driving without playing with your smartphone, then you need to forget driving and take the bus, taxi, lyft, uber, etc.

Driving is a privilege earned and we can do without all the added nanny devices.

Feel the nanny devices are needed, then keep them on the self driving auto's and let the ICE, Hybrid & EV's that can be fun to drive for drivers who enjoy pure driving.

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Well, this brings up an interesting point: what makes a "luxury" vehicle? If you look at extremely exotic and luxurious vehicles such as the new Rolls Royce Phantom, you will see the use of cutting-edge technology combined with craftsmanship. While I agree that gesture controls are a gimmick, the trend is going towards technology packages within luxury vehicles. That said...I totally agree that with all this new tech means it is a matter of time before something goes wrong.

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'luxury' vehicles today are all about increasingly complex electronics that will be obsolete in a few years and will fail expensively in a few years. They are intended to be leased or owned for only a few short years under warranty then traded for the next new thing...

Translation is the G90 is slower, less powerful, less fuel efficient, and has worse ride quality than an S-class.

Beirmann is trying to say technology and power and interior materials don't matter, because his car has none of those things. Probably why his car doesn't sell very well.

Have you been in a G90?

Doubt it, so your just blowing out your butt statements that have no facts.

Do you have their product road map to know that they will not have any of the things you have stated?

There are plenty of nontechnical luxury items, that are pure luxury in quality and craftsmanship.

Post a video of you driving a G90 and then driving an S class back to back to compare and show how they handle on near identically spec'd cars.

I have not driven a G90 so I would not state it is not a luxury ride just because currently it does not tick off the check box's of a badge snob ride.

THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST STATEMENTS from the story:

“The car in the luxury car segment, they show all the racetrack talent, but which 2.2-tonne luxury segment car will ever see the racetrack?

“We don’t do this kind of stuff. We work for the customer first of all, and not so much for the media. Of course we do some stuff for the media, but first of all we do that stuff for the customer, that we think has reasonable value for the money.

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The Genesis cars are surprisingly nice. I am especially excited about the G70. My brother's luxury cars have indeed been high maintenance (09 CTS, 11 A5, and 15 ATS). I actually have him interested in the G70 with the 3.3 turbo 6 and AWD. Can't wait until it hits lots.

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Doubt it, so your just blowing out your butt statements that have no facts.

Do you have their product road map to know that they will not have any of the things you have stated?

There are plenty of nontechnical luxury items, that are pure luxury in quality and craftsmanship.

Post a video of you driving a G90 and then driving an S class back to back to compare and show how they handle on near identically spec'd cars.

I have not driven a G90 so I would not state it is not a luxury ride just because currently it does not tick off the check box's of a badge snob ride.

THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST STATEMENTS from the story:

“The car in the luxury car segment, they show all the racetrack talent, but which 2.2-tonne luxury segment car will ever see the racetrack?

“We don’t do this kind of stuff. We work for the customer first of all, and not so much for the media. Of course we do some stuff for the media, but first of all we do that stuff for the customer, that we think has reasonable value for the money.

You know good and damn well he has not sat in one. He only makes the comment he did because the S Class was called out for the truth. In no way was Biermann trying to directly compare the two. He is spot on with the nanny features that push car prices into another level of financial retardedness. You can have luxury without the many gadgets and if you need stupid &#036;h&#33; like autonomous driving and self parking, then what you need is a limo driver because clearly you are too self absorbed or too busy texting on your phone to be bothered with actually driving.

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There are good points to what he says and also an admission as to why the Genesis cars may always be at the lower end of the scale in the luxury segment.

Not that I am or would have Genesis at the top of my list for purchase, I would consider it now if I would take what he says at Face Value.... and if someone can tell me why the last sentence has three words in it that have a relation to each other (like a "six degrees of separation' type deal) outside of car talk, you get bonus points...

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There are good points to what he says and also an admission as to why the Genesis cars may always be at the lower end of the scale in the luxury segment.

Not that I am or would have Genesis at the top of my list for purchase, I would consider it now if I would take what he says at Face Value.... and if someone can tell me why the last sentence has three words in it that have a relation to each other (like a "six degrees of separation' type deal) outside of car talk, you get bonus points...

Married to a Korean who came here at 13 but is still fluent and is a certified Psychologist, I find the last sentence in the story to be normal English as a second language talk from the asian rim. I see this in Japan, China and Korea.

I assume your talking about this sentence:

Of course we do some stuff for the media, but first of all we do that stuff for the customer, that we think has reasonable value for the money.

My Escalade ESV Platinum has only 1 of these things the Air Suspension and I can tell you it is not only a luxury ride, but handles well and the handling comes in regards to both the quality of this luxury SUV that is built well and to my driving skills as a person who enjoys driving and reading the road and DOES NOT need those Nanny devices to handle the driving.

Take my Escalade any day over your overblown S-Class. Better Built, longer lasting, more comfortable as a Road trip auto than the S-Class.

Having been all over the Asian rim, I can tell you now that other than badge snobs in China, the bulk of China, Japan and Korea want comfort and smooth ride, not a race car stiff ride.

I see the Koreans building an autoline that will give their customers the ride comfort they want. Cadillac does this with ride mode, many others too including MB, so you cannot say this is not a luxury car when he only simply points out that Genesis DOES NOT NEED the Nanny devices to compete as a smooth comfortable luxury ride.@Drew Dowdell & @William Maley

I would like to request that in the future if you guys could please keep in mind and include in your writeups comparison of these auto's to the rest of the luxury makers so we have your butt in the seat feeling and impression as to how the Genesis luxury line compares please

I think this is an important comparison of a Luxury auto without technical Nanny devices to a luxury auto with.

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Married to a Korean who came here at 13 but is still fluent and is a certified Psychologist, I find the last sentence in the story to be normal English as a second language talk from the asian rim. I see this in Japan, China and Korea.

I assume your talking about this sentence:

Of course we do some stuff for the media, but first of all we do that stuff for the customer, that we think has reasonable value for the money.

Nah, you are going too clinical and smart for me, dfelt.

I was referring to the second to last sentence in my post.

The answer: Genesis is a band whose lead singer is Phil Collins. Phil Collins released an album entitled "Face Value". Now I feel stupid for writing that question because in retrospect, it was frivolous and inane and had nothing to do with the main article! LOL

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I've said this for many a yerr: luxury cars should be effortless to operate. They should be serene in nature... so many of these gadgets are too complicated and therefore will go unused. The whole point of luxury, to me, is to coddle the owner, not addle him.

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Doubt it, so your just blowing out your butt statements that have no facts.

Do you have their product road map to know that they will not have any of the things you have stated?

There are plenty of nontechnical luxury items, that are pure luxury in quality and craftsmanship.

Post a video of you driving a G90 and then driving an S class back to back to compare and show how they handle on near identically spec'd cars.

I have not driven a G90 so I would not state it is not a luxury ride just because currently it does not tick off the check box's of a badge snob ride.

THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST STATEMENTS from the story:

“The car in the luxury car segment, they show all the racetrack talent, but which 2.2-tonne luxury segment car will ever see the racetrack?

“We don’t do this kind of stuff. We work for the customer first of all, and not so much for the media. Of course we do some stuff for the media, but first of all we do that stuff for the customer, that we think has reasonable value for the money.

I have driven the 2010 Hyundai Genesis V8, it was my 2nd choice actually when I was car shopping 4-5 years ago. For a sort of full size car it had pretty good ride/handling, the V8 moved it pretty easily, not a sports car in any way, but a nice daily driver. No where near as good as an E-class though, which is why I bought an E-class.

I have sat in the G90, there is a lot of low rent materials in that car, and the stuff they used to try to make it look expensive is just bling and chrome, that doesn't really make it luxurious, just flashy. I would say the G90 is about on par with a Continental or maybe CT6 at most. It falls short of any other full size luxury sedan.

So if the interior isn't up to par, why even test drive it, especially when the specs show their V8 isn't up to par either. Their optional engine makes 383 lb-ft of torque, less than a base model 2007 S-class. Not good when your top engine is 10 years behind the competitor's base engine.

On 9/21/2017 at 11:08 AM, ccap41 said:

It's also $21,000 less expensive. For 21k extra it better have all of those extra things.

Then Beirmann should not compare his car to an S-class. Compare to Lincoln or Acura, or Infiniti, go after them.

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I've said this for many a yerr: luxury cars should be effortless to operate. They should be serene in nature... so many of these gadgets are too complicated and therefore will go unused. The whole point of luxury, to me, is to coddle the owner, not addle him.

I totally agree with you about the Coddle part. So much so, I decided to see if OcnBlu Coddled showed up in a search. Too funny of the results.